NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

ex is a line-oriented text editor; vi is a screen-oriented text editor.
ex and vi are different interfaces to the same program, and it is possi-
ble to switch back and forth during an edit session. view is the
equivalent of using the -R (read-only) option of vi.
This manual page is the one provided with the nex/nvi versions of the
ex/vi text editors. nex/nvi are intended as bug-for-bug compatible re-
placements for the original Fourth Berkeley Software Distribution (4BSD)
ex and vi programs. For the rest of this manual page, nex/nvi is used
only when it's necessary to distinguish it from the historic implementa-
tions of ex/vi.
This manual page is intended for users already familiar with ex/vi. Any-
one else should almost certainly read a good tutorial on the editor be-
fore this manual page. See the SEE ALSO section below for a list of addi-
tional materials. If you're in an unfamiliar environment, and you abso-
lutely have to get work done immediately, read the section after the op-
tions description, entitled FAST STARTUP. It's probably enough to get you
going.
The following options are available:
-ccmd Execute cmd on the first file loaded. Particularly useful for
initial positioning in the file, although cmd is not limited to
positioning commands. This is the POSIX 1003.2 interface for
the historic "+cmd" syntax. nex/nvi supports both the old and
new syntax.
-e Start editing in ex mode, as if the command name were ex.
-F Don't copy the entire file when first starting to edit. (The
default is to make a copy in case someone else modifies the
file during your edit session.)
-R Start editing in read-only mode, as if the command name was
view, or the readonly option was set.
-r Recover the specified files, or, if no files are specified,
list the files that could be recovered. If no recoverable files
by the specified name exist, the file is edited as if the -r
option had not been specified.
-S Run with the secure edit option set, disallowing all access to
external programs.
-s Enter batch mode; applicable only to ex edit sessions. Batch
mode is useful when running ex scripts. Prompts, informative
messages and other user oriented messages are turned off, and
no startup files or environment variables are read. This is the
POSIX 1003.2 interface for the historic "-" argument. nex/nvi
supports both the old and new syntax.
-ttag Start editing at the specified tag (see ctags(1)).
-v Start editing in vi mode, as if the command name was vi.
-wsize Set the initial window size to the specified number of lines.
Command input for ex/vi is read from the standard input. In the vi inter-
face, it is an error if standard input is not a terminal. In the ex in-
terface, if standard input is not a terminal, ex will read commands from
it regardless; however, the session will be a batch mode session, exactly
as if the -s option had been specified.

FAST STARTUP

This section will tell you the minimum amount that you need to do simple
editing tasks using vi. If you've never used any screen editor before,
you're likely to have problems even with this simple introduction. In
that case you should find someone that already knows vi and have them
walk you through this section.
vi is a screen editor. This means that it takes up almost the entire
screen, displaying part of the file on each screen line, except for the
last line of the screen. The last line of the screen is used for you to
give commands to vi, and for vi to give information to you.
The other fact that you need to understand is that vi is a modeful edi-
tor, i.e. you are either entering text or you are executing commands, and
you have to be in the right mode to do one or the other. You will be in
command mode when you first start editing a file. There are commands that
switch you into input mode. There is only one key that takes you out of
input mode, and that is the <escape> key.
Key names are written using less-than and greater-than signs, e.g.
<escape> means the "escape" key, usually labeled "Esc" on your terminal's
keyboard. If you're ever confused as to which mode you're in, keep enter-
ing the <escape> key until vi beeps at you. Generally, vi will beep at
you if you try and do something that's not allowed. It will also display
error messages.
To start editing a file, enter the following command:
$ vi file
The command you should enter as soon as you start editing is:
:set verbose showmode
This will make the editor give you verbose error messages and display the
current mode at the bottom of the screen.
The commands to move around the file are:
h Move the cursor left one character.
j Move the cursor down one line.
k Move the cursor up one line.
l Move the cursor right one character.
<cursor-arrows>
The cursor arrow keys should work, too.
/text Search for the string "text" in the file, and move the cursor to
its first character.
The commands to enter new text are:
a Append new text, after the cursor.
i Insert new text, before the cursor.
O Open a new line above the line the cursor is on, and start
entering text.
o Open a new line below the line the cursor is on, and start
entering text.
<escape> Once you've entered input mode using one of the a, i, O or o
commands, use <escape> to quit entering text and return to com-
mand mode.
The commands to copy text are:
p Append the copied line after the line the cursor is on.
yy Copy the line the cursor is on.
The commands to delete text are:
dd Delete the line the cursor is on.
x Delete the character the cursor is on.
The commands to write the file are:
:w Write the file back to the file with the name that you originally
used as an argument on the vi command line.
:wfile_name
Write the file back to the file with the name file_name.
The commands to quit editing and exit the editor are:
:q Quit editing and leave vi (if you've modified the file, but not
saved your changes, vi will refuse to quit).
:q! Quit, discarding any modifications that you may have made.
One final caution: Unusual characters can take up more than one column on
the screen, and long lines can take up more than a single screen line.
The above commands work on "physical" characters and lines, i.e. they af-
fect the entire line no matter how many screen lines it takes up and the
entire character no matter how many screen columns it takes up.

VI COMMANDS

The following section describes the commands available in the command
mode of the vi editor. In each entry below, the tag line is a usage
synopsis for the command character.
<control-A>
Search forward for the current word.
[count] <control-B>
Page backwards count screens.
[count] <control-D>
Scroll forward count lines. If count is not given, scroll forward
half the number of lines in the current screen.
[count] <control-E>
Scroll forward count lines, leaving the current line and column
as is, if possible.
[count] <control-F>
Page forward count screens.
<control-G>
Display the file information.
[count] <control-H>
[count] h
Move the cursor back count characters in the current line.
[count] <control-J>
[count] <control-N>
[count] j
Move the cursor down count lines without changing the current
column.
<control-L>
<control-R>
Repaint the screen.
[count] <control-M>
[count] +
Move the cursor down count lines to the first non-blank character
of that line.
[count] <control-P>
[count] k
Move the cursor up count lines, without changing the current
column.
<control-T>
Return to the most recent tag context.
[count] <control-U>
Scroll backwards count lines. If count is not given, scroll back-
wards half the number of lines in the current screen.
<control-W>
Switch to the next lower screen in the window, or to the first
screen if there are no lower screens in the window.
[count] <control-Y>
Scroll backwards count lines, leaving the current line and column
as is, if possible.
<control-Z>
Suspend the current editor session.
<escape>
Execute ex commands or cancel partial commands.
<control-]>
Push a tag reference onto the tag stack.
<control-^>
Switch to the most recently edited file.
[count] <space>
[count] l
Move the cursor forward count characters without changing the
current line.
[count] !motion shell-argument(s) <carriage-return>
Replace text with results from a shell command.
[count] # #|+|-
Increment or decrement the number under the cursor. If the trail-
ing character is a '#' or '+', the number is incremented. If the
trailing character is a '-', the number is decremented.
[count] $
Move the cursor to the end of a line.
% Move to the matching character.
& Repeat the previous substitution command on the current line.
'<character>
`<character>
Return to a context marked by the character character. The first
form returns to the beginning of the line marked by character.
The second form returns to the first character of the context
marked by character.
[count] (
Back up count sentences.
[count] )
Move forward count sentences.
[count] ,
Reverse find character count times.
[count] -
Move to the first non-blank of the previous line, count times.
[count] .
Repeat the last vi command that modified text.
/RE <carriage-return>
/RE/ [offset] <carriage-return>
?RE <carriage-return>
?RE? [offset] <carriage-return>
Nn Search forward ('/') or backward ('?') for a regular expression.
n and N repeat the last search in the same or opposite direc-
tions, respectively. If offset is specified, the cursor is placed
offset lines before or after the matched regular expression.
0 Move to the first character in the current line.
: Execute an ex command.
[count] ;
Repeat the last character find count times.
[count] < motion
[count] > motion
Shift lines left or right.
@buffer
Execute a named buffer.
[count] A
Enter input mode, appending the text after the end of the line.
If a count argument is given, the characters input are repeated
count - 1 number of times.
[count] B
Move backwards count bigwords.
[buffer] [count] C
Change text from the current position to the end-of-line. If
buffer is specified, "yank" the deleted text into buffer.
[buffer] D
Delete text from the current position to the end-of-line. If
buffer is specified, "yank" the deleted text into buffer.
[count] E
Move forward count end-of-bigwords.
[count] F <character>
Search count times backward through the current line for
character.
[count] G
Move to line count, or the last line of the file if count is not
specified.
[count] H
Move to the screen line count - 1 lines below the top of the
screen.
[count] I
Enter input mode, inserting the text at the beginning of the
line. If a count argument is given, the characters input are re-
peated count - 1 number of times.
[count] J
Join lines.
[count] L
Move to the screen line count - 1 lines above the bottom of the
screen.
M Move to the screen line in the middle of the screen.
[count] O
Enter input mode, appending text in a new line above the current
line. If a count argument is given, the characters input are re-
peated count - 1 number of times.
[buffer] P
Insert text from a buffer.
Q Exit vi (or visual) mode and switch to ex mode.
[count] R
Enter input mode, replacing the characters in the current line.
If a count argument is given, the characters input are repeated
count - 1 number of times.
[buffer] [count] S
Substitute count lines. If buffer is specified, "yank" the delet-
ed text into buffer.
[count] T <character>
Search backwards, count times, through the current line for the
character after the specified character.
U Restore the current line to its state before the cursor last
moved to it.
[count] W
Move forward count bigwords.
[buffer] [count] X
Delete count characters before the cursor. If buffer is speci-
fied, "yank" the deleted text into buffer.
[buffer] [count] Y
Copy (or "yank") count lines into the specified buffer, or the
default buffer if none is specified.
ZZ Write the file and exit vi.
[count] [[
Back up count section boundaries.
[count] ]]
Move forward count section boundaries.
^ Move to the first non-blank character on the current line.
[count] _
Move down count - 1 lines, to the first non-blank character.
[count] a
Enter input mode, appending the text after the cursor. If a count
argument is given, the characters input are repeated count -1
number of times.
[count] b
Move backwards count words.
[buffer] [count] cmotion
Change a region of text.
[buffer] [count] dmotion
Delete a region of text.
[count] e
Move forward count end-of-words.
[count] f <character>
Search forward, count times, through the rest of the current line
for <character>.
[count] i
Enter input mode, inserting the text before the cursor. If a
count argument is given, the characters input are repeated count
-1 number of times.
m <character>
Save the current context (line and column) as <character>.
[count] o
Enter input mode, appending text in a new line under the current
line. If a count argument is given, the characters input are re-
peated count - 1 number of times.
[buffer] p
Append text from a buffer.
[count] r <character>
Replace count characters.
[buffer] [count] s
Substitute count characters in the current line starting with the
current character.
[count] t <character>
Search forward, count times, through the current line for the
character immediately before <character>.
u Undo the last change made to the file.
[count] w
Move forward count words.
[buffer] [count] x
Delete count characters.
[buffer] [count] ymotion
Copy (or "yank") a text region specified by count and motion into
a buffer.
[count1] z [count2] type
Redraw, optionally repositioning and resizing the screen. If
count2 is specified, limit the screen size to count2 lines. The
following type characters may be used:
+ If count1 is specified, place the line count1 at the top
of the screen. Otherwise, display the screen after the
current screen.
<carriage-return>
Place the line count1 at the top of the screen.
. Place the line count1 in the center of the screen.
- Place the line count1 at the bottom of the screen.
^ If count1 is given, display the screen before the screen
before count1 (i.e. 2 screens before). Otherwise, display
the screen before the current screen.
[count] {
Move backward count paragraphs.
[column] |
Move to a specific column position on the current line. If column
is omitted, move to the start of the current line.
[count] }
Move forward count paragraphs.
[count] ~
Reverse the case of the next count character(s).
[count] ~motion
Reverse the case of the characters in a text region specified by
the count and motion. Only in effect if the tildeop option is
set.
<interrupt>
Interrupt the current operation. The <interrupt> character is
usually <control-C>.

VI TEXT INPUT COMMANDS

The following section describes the commands available in the text input
mode of the vi editor.
<nul> Replay the previous input.
<control-D>
Erase to the previous shiftwidth column boundary.
^<control-D>
Erase all of the autoindent characters, and reset the autoindent
level.
0<control-D>
Erase all of the autoindent characters.
<control-T>
Insert sufficient <tab> and <space> characters to move forward to
the next shiftwidth column boundary.
<erase>
<control-H>
Erase the last character.
<literal next>
Escape the next character from any special meaning. The
<literal next> character is usually <control-V>.
<escape>
Resolve all text input into the file, and return to command mode.
<line erase>
Erase the current line.
<control-W>
<word erase>
Erase the last word. The definition of word is dependent on the
altwerase and ttywerase options.
<control-X>[0-9A-Fa-f]+
Insert a character with the specified hexadecimal value into the
text.
<interrupt>
Interrupt text input mode, returning to command mode. The
<interrupt> character is usually <control-C>.

SET OPTIONS

There are a large number of options that may be set (or unset) to change
the editor's behavior. This section describes the options, their abbrevi-
ations and their default values.
In each entry below, the first part of the tag line is the full name of
the option, followed by any equivalent abbreviations. The part in square
brackets is the default value of the option. Most of the options are
boolean, i.e. they are either on or off, and do not have an associated
value.
Options apply to both ex and vi modes, unless otherwise specified.
altwerase [off]
vi only. Select an alternate word erase algorithm.
autoindent, ai [off]
Automatically indent new lines.
autoprint, ap [on]
ex only. Display the current line automatically.
autowrite, aw [off]
Write modified files automatically when changing files.
"|" . if "It"Op" .ds A4 ""
backup [""]
Back up files before they are overwritten.
beautify, bf [off]
Discard control characters.
cdpath [environment variable CDPATH, or current directory]
The directory paths used as path prefixes for the cd command.
cedit [no default]
Set the character to edit the colon command-line history.
columns, co [80]
Set the number of columns in the screen.
comment [off]
vi only. Skip leading comments in shell, C and C++ language
files.
directory, dir [environment variable TMPDIR, or /tmp]
The directory where temporary files are created.
edcompatible, ed [off]
Remember the values of the 'c' and 'g' suffixes to the substitute
commands, instead of initializing them as unset for each new com-
mand.
escapetime [1]
The 10th's of a second ex/vi waits for a subsequent key to com-
plete an <escape> key mapping.
errorbells, eb [off]
ex only. Announce error messages with a bell.
exrc, ex [off]
Read the startup files in the local directory.
extended [off]
Use extended regular expressions (EREs) rather than basic regular
expressions (BREs). See re_format(7) for more information on reg-
ular expressions.
filec [no default]
Set the character to perform file path completion on the colon
command line.
flash [off]
Flash the screen instead of beeping the keyboard on error.
hardtabs, ht [0]
Set the spacing between hardware tab settings. This option
currently has no effect.
iclower [off]
Makes all regular expressions case-insensitive, as long as an
upper-case letter does not appear in the search string.
ignorecase, ic [off]
Ignore case differences in regular expressions.
keytime [6]
The 10th's of a second ex/vi waits for a subsequent key to com-
plete a key mapping.
leftright [off]
vi only. Do left-right scrolling.
lines, li [24]
vi only. Set the number of lines in the screen.
lisp [off]
vi only. Modify various search commands and options to work with
Lisp. This option is not yet implemented.
list [off]
Display lines in an unambiguous fashion.
lock [on]
Attempt to get an exclusive lock on any file being edited, read
or written.
magic [on]
Treat certain characters specially in regular expressions.
matchtime [7]
vi only. The 10th's of a second ex/vi pauses on the matching
character when the showmatch option is set.
mesg [on]
Permit messages from other users.
msgcat [/usr/share/vi/catalog/]
Selects a message catalog to be used to display error and infor-
mational messages in a specified language.
modelines, modeline [off]
Read the first and last few lines of each file for ex commands.
This option will never be implemented.
"|" . if "It"Op" .ds A4 ""
noprint [""]
Characters that are never handled as printable characters.
number, nu [off]
Precede each line displayed with its current line number.
octal [off]
Display unknown characters as octal numbers, instead of the de-
fault hexadecimal.
open [on]
ex only. If this option is not set, the open and visual commands
are disallowed.
optimize, opt [on]
vi only. Optimize text throughput to dumb terminals. This option
is not yet implemented
paragraphs, para [IPLPPPQPP LIpplpipbp]
vi only. Define additional paragraph boundaries for the { and }
commands.
"|" . if "It"Op" .ds A4 ""
path [""]
Define additional directories to search for files being edited.
"|" . if "It"Op" .ds A4 ""
print [""]
Characters that are always handled as printable characters.
prompt [on]
ex only. Display a command prompt.
readonly, ro [off]
Mark the file and session as read-only.
recdir [/var/tmp/vi.recover]
The directory where recovery files are stored.
redraw, re [off]
vi only. Simulate an intelligent terminal on a dumb one. This op-
tion is not yet implemented.
remap [on]
Remap keys until resolved.
report [5]
Set the number of lines about which the editor reports changes or
yanks.
ruler [off]
vi only. Display a row/column ruler on the colon command line.
scroll, scr [($LINES - 1) / 2]
Set the number of lines scrolled.
searchincr [off]
Makes the / and ? commands incremental.
sections, sect [NHSHH HUnhsh]
vi only. Define additional section boundaries for the [[ and ]]
commands.
secure [off]
Turns off all access to external programs.
shell, sh [environment variable SHELL, or /bin/sh]
Select the shell used by the editor.
shellmeta [~{[*?$`'"\]
Set the meta characters checked to determine if file name expan-
sion is necessary.
shiftwidth, sw [8]
Set the autoindent and shift command indentation width.
showmatch, sm [off]
vi only. Note matching '{' and '(' for '}' and ')' characters.
showmode, smd [off]
vi only. Display the current editor mode and a "modified" flag.
sidescroll [16]
vi only. Set the amount a left-right scroll will shift.
slowopen, slow [off]
Delay display updating during text input. This option is not yet
implemented.
sourceany [off]
Read startup files not owned by the current user. This option
will never be implemented.
tabstop, ts [8]
This option sets tab widths for the editor display.
taglength, tl [0]
Set the number of significant characters in tag names.
tags, tag [tags]
Set the list of tags files.
term, ttytype, tty [environment variable TERM]
Set the terminal type.
terse [off]
This option has historically made editor messages less verbose.
It has no effect in this implementation.
tildeop [off]
Modify the ~ command to take an associated motion.
timeout, to [on]
Time out on keys which may be mapped.
ttywerase [off]
vi only. Select an alternate erase algorithm.
verbose [off]
vi only. Display an error message for every error.
w300 [no default]
vi only. Set the window size if the baud rate is less than 1200
baud.
w1200 [no default]
vi only. Set the window size if the baud rate is equal to 1200
baud.
w9600 [no default]
vi only. Set the window size if the baud rate is greater than
1200 baud.
warn [on]
ex only. This option causes a warning message to be printed on
the terminal if the file has been modified since it was last
written, before a ! command.
window, w, wi [environment variable LINES - 1]
Set the window size for the screen.
windowname [off]
Change the icon/window name to the current file name even if it
can't be restored on editor exit.
wraplen, wl [0]
vi only. Break lines automatically, the specified number of
columns from the left-hand margin. If both the wraplen and
wrapmargin edit options are set, the wrapmargin value is used.
wrapmargin, wm [0]
vi only. Break lines automatically, the specified number of
columns from the right-hand margin. If both the wraplen and
wrapmargin edit options are set, the wrapmargin value is used.
wrapscan, ws [on]
Set searches to wrap around the end or beginning of the file.
writeany, wa [off]
Turn off file-overwriting checks.

ENVIRONMENT

COLUMNS The number of columns on the screen. This value overrides any
system or terminal specific values. If the COLUMNS environment
variable is not set when ex/vi runs, or the columns option is
explicitly reset by the user, ex/vi enters the value into the
environment.
EXINIT A list of ex startup commands; read if the variable NEXINIT is
not set.
HOME The user's home directory, used as the initial directory path
for the startup $HOME/.nexrc and $HOME/.exrc files. This value
is also used as the default directory for the vi cd command.
LINES The number of rows on the screen. This value overrides any sys-
tem or terminal specific values. If the LINES environment vari-
able is not set when ex/vi runs, or the lines option is expli-
citly reset by the user, ex/vi enters the value into the en-
vironment.
NEXINIT A list of ex startup commands.
SHELL The user's shell of choice (see also the shell option).
TERM The user's terminal type. The default is the type "unknown". If
the TERM environment variable is not set when ex/vi runs, or the
term option is explicitly reset by the user, ex/vi enters the
value into the environment.
TMPDIR The location used to stored temporary files (see also the
directory edit option).

ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS

SIGALRM vi/ex uses this signal for periodic backups of file modifica-
tions and to display "busy" messages when operations are likely
to take a long time.
SIGHUP
SIGTERM If the current buffer has changed since it was last written in
its entirety, the editor attempts to save the modified file so
it can be later recovered. See the vi/ex reference manual sec-
tion Recovery for more information.
SIGINT When an interrupt occurs, the current operation is halted and
the editor returns to the command level. If interrupted during
text input, the text already input is resolved into the file as
if the text input had been normally terminated.
SIGWINCH The screen is resized. See the vi/ex reference manual section
Sizing the Screen for more information.

EXIT STATUS

The ex and vi utilities exit 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

SEE ALSO

ctags(1), re_format(7)
The "Vi Quick Reference" card, /usr/share/doc/usd/12.vi/vi.summary.
"An Introduction to Display Editing with Vi", /usr/share/doc/usd/12.vi/.
This document is the closest thing available to an introduction to the vi
screen editor.
"Ex Reference Manual", /usr/share/doc/usd/13.ex/. This document is the
final reference for the ex editor.
"Ex: A Tutorial", /usr/share/doc/usd/11.edit/. This document is the
closest thing available to an introduction to the ex editor.
"Vi/Ex Reference Manual", /usr/share/doc/usd/13.viref/. This document is
the final reference for the nex/nvi text editors.
Roff source for all of these documents is distributed with nex/nvi in the
vi/docs/USD.doc directory of the nex/nvi source code.
The files autowrite, input, quoting, and structures found in the
vi/docs/internals directory of the nex/nvi source code.

STANDARDS

nex/nvi is close to IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 ("POSIX"). That document differs
from historical ex/vi practice in several places; there are changes to be
made on both sides.

HISTORY

The nex/nvi replacements for the ex/vi editor first appeared in 4.4BSD.
MirOS BSD #10-current December 27, 2010 17